Called to court?

[LoveANurse09]

While precepting on a high risk LDR unit, many of the nurses were talking about going to court. So I was wondering, how common is it for L&D nurses to have to defend themselves in court?

[Willow Moonsidhe]

They have until the child becomes an adult to file a case so go figure. Too many decelerations on the monitor not addressed quickly enough etc....

~Willow

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

This is where it comes down to ensuring you have very good documentation of anything and everything you do or dont do. I have had to go for depositions on cases not only in l/d but in other instances for critical care, etc. It has always been for me in each case where the MD or the hospital was being sued by either a parent or family member. In each case it no less than 3 years down the road from the initial incident. I had to rely on my documentation only rather than memory. If you start worrying about such things coming up now or future it will make you a basket case. Ensure you have great documentation in all instances and also carry good individual Liability Insurance.

[tiddles]

This is where it comes down to ensuring you have very good documentation of anything and everything you do or dont do. I have had to go for depositions on cases not only in l/d but in other instances for critical care, etc. It has always been for me in each case where the MD or the hospital was being sued by either a parent or family member. In each case it no less than 3 years down the road from the initial incident. I had to rely on my documentation only rather than memory. If you start worrying about such things coming up now or future it will make you a basket case. Ensure you have great documentation in all instances and also carry good individual liability insurance.

I heard that having your own Liability Insurance can make you a target for a greedy lawyer who may not otherwise have bothered. Having said that, I have to get my own now, as I'm just starting out as an independent case manager.

[LoveANurse09]

So having your own liabilty insurance is a good thing or no? Also where I work we chart by exception,DAR charting. I have been told not to write too much, but what if I'm not writing enough? The way I'm charting now I don't know if it would remind me of that patient unless something had hapoened where I wrote a little more detail.

[tiddles]

I would never be able to remember details of an event years after the fact. Just remember - if you didn't document it , it never happened. So chart every med, VS, teaching, any interaction with a pt, even if it was just to bring them water. Some pt's will say that no one looked at them for hours, which is usually B.S. but if you haven't written anything then it looks like you didn't. You don't have to write pages and pages like some people do. Just a brief line or two, unless it's something that warrants more detail, of course.eg: a pt who refuses fetal monitoring

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

So having your own liabilty insurance is a good thing or no? Also where I work we chart by exception,DAR charting. I have been told not to write too much, but what if I'm not writing enough? The way I'm charting now I don't know if it would remind me of that patient unless something had hapoened where I wrote a little more detail.

It's a myth that if you have personal liability then you are more likely to get sued. You just dont brag to everyone you have it. Put it this way if a case comes up do you believe that your employer is going to fully cover you particularly if it's something with the BON? I experienced this first hand many years ago and even though the employer agreed I was in the right when it came to the BON your on your own in most cases. Also in relation to documentation - chart anything and everything you did or didnt do. For example you dont chart specifically someone made an error but you may chart the MD was notified and what you did but dont exhude blame to any specific person or you wouldnt chart "incident report filed". You can chart pt stated " etc, etc" and what you did to resolve it. I would rather overchart then underchart. Just keep in mind what a previous poster stated - if it isnt charted it wasnt done. If you didnt chart that pts complaint or status and what you did then it was ignored as far as charting goes. I also have done expert witness testimony for standards of care and you wouldnt believe what can come out of failure to chart pertinent information. It can come back to bite you in the orifice down the road. Again consider suits usually dont come around till 3-4 years down the road. Can you remember ever step you took, ever patient you treated and every intervention and how you did it for each of those pts? I know I couldnt.

http://www.medi-smart.com/documentation.htm